Showing posts with label exiting the cult of Armstrongism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exiting the cult of Armstrongism. Show all posts

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Recognizing Con Artists, Tyrants, and Spiritual Abusers in Leadership

FROM THE INTRODUCTION:    Suppose you move to a different area, and are keeping your eyes open for a good group to belong to (a social club, a church, a synagogue, or service organization). You visit one such group where the people are very friendly, loving, and give you individual attention. The group has a variety of programs: a rehabilitation program for drug addicts, services and nursing homes for the elderly, help for the poor, and free clinics. The leader inspires the disillusioned, the disenchanted, and those who have been rejected elsewhere. He is well-known and respected in the area, and the mayor gave him a position as Director of the City Housing Authority. Would you join this group?
    Suppose you spend four years in college and nearly two years in graduate school to prepare for a career in Christian music. Then the ministers of your home church tell you that you are not needed in their music program. Shortly afterward, you find a new group that welcomes you with open arms. They really care for people. The leader of this group has fascinating Bible studies. You and everyone else are able to sit and listen to him for several hours at a time. Would you stay in this group?
    If you answered "yes" to the first situation, you joined the church led by Jim Jones who led over 900 of his followers into a mass suicide murder. If you liked the second group, you became a follower of David Koresh who led over 80 of his followers to die in a blaze of fire.
    A wolf in sheep's clothing is a short and simple description of a cult leader – as these men were.
    Are there any warning signs that a group and its leader are dangerous? That’s largely what this book is about. 

 
To read more about this subject, click here to download Stephen Martin's e-book.
Christian and Secular books on Recovery from Mind Control


Christian Books Addressing the Dynamics of Spiritual Abuse


· **The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse (Johnson & VanVonderan)
· Twisted Scriptures (Chrnalogar)
· Toxic Faith (Arterburn)
· More Jesus, Less Religion (Arterburn & Felton)
· **Safe People (Townsend and Cloud)
Secular Books Addressing Cults and Cultic Churches
[Remember: The dynamics in Biblical churches and in cults are identical.]
An earlier version was **Captive Hearts, Captive Minds (Landau-Tobias and Lalich)
· **Cults in our Midst (Singer)
· **The Lucifer Effect (Zimbardo)
· Snapping (Conway)
· Bounded Choice (Lalich)
· Brainwash (Streatfeild)